No. 25 Baseball Drops Game One to Penn State, 8-3 – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/20/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 20, 2001
Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 25 Ohio State baseball team (28-9 overall, 9-4 in the Big Ten) dropped the first game of a four-game series with Penn State Friday night, falling 8-3 to the Nittany Lions (20-21, 9-6 in the Big Ten) in front of a crowd of 1,751 at Bill Davis Stadium.
Penn State grabbed the early lead when Chris Wright homered off OSU starting pitcher E.J. Laratta (Jr., Englewood, Colo.). The Nittany Lions tacked on another run in the second inning on a run-scoring groundout to shortstop by Adam Warchal.
Ohio State evened the score in the third inning. With two outs, Nick Swisher (So., Parkersburg, W. Va.) drew a walk. John Mayor (Sr., Chesterfield, Mo.) followed and drilled a 1-2 pitch from Penn State starter Dan McCall over the left-center field wall for a two-run home run. The blast was Mayor’s third home run of the season.
Penn State retook the lead in the fourth inning when Donnie Wright hit a solo home run.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Nittany Lions broke the game open when Wright drilled his second home run in as many innings, a three-run bomb, to give Penn State a 6-2 advantage.
The Nittany Lions added more runs in the top of the sixth inning as Zack Smithlin hit a run-scoring double to the gap in left-center field. Chris Wright followed with a RBI groundout against OSU reliever Jason Bullens (Dayton, Ohio) to push the PSU lead to 8-2.
Ohio State added a run in the eighth inning. Doug Deeds (Fr., Bexley, Ohio) led off with a double and came home on a single by Steve Caravati (Fr., Dover, Ohio). Laratta (6-2) took the loss. He pitched 5.1 innings, allowed 10 hits and eight runs (seven earned). He struck out four and walked three. McCall (4-1) earned the win after firing 6.2 innings of four-hit baseball. He allowed two earned runs, while walking seven and fanning three. Bullens was solid out of the bullpen for the Buckeyes, firing 3.2 innings of one-hit, shutout baseball. He walked three and struck out four.
The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions square off in games two and three of the four-game series Saturday afternoon in a 4:05 p.m. doubleheader. The teams conclude the series Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
